The Southern Amazonas – Northern Rondônia Mosaic is an area that is critical, yet full of challenges, for the conservation of Amazonian socio-biodiversity and development. The GIA Community of Practice and Learning is using a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to better understand this complex and dynamic socio-ecological context and address the following questions about the use of tools and strategies to influence governance:
What tools and strategies are employed to translate knowledge and information to influence governance?
What factors enable or limit the efficacy of governance, and how do these factors influence the impacts of these tools and strategies?
What is working and what is not working, and what lessons have been learned?
How can we strengthen or improve the use of these strategies and tools?
Focal Mosaic Description
This mosaic located in the southwest Brazilian Amazon comprises the southern part of the state of Amazonas and the northern part of the state of Rondônia, reaching from the municipalities of Boca do Acre, Manicoré and Apuí in the state of Amazonas (west, north, and east boundaries, respectively) to Guajara-Mirim, Rondônia to the south.
The 14 total municipalities also include Nova Mamoré, Porto Velho, Candeias do Jamari, Itapuã do Oeste, Cujubim e Machadinho d’Oeste in Rondônia; and Novo Aripuanã, Humaitá, Canutama, and Lábrea in Amazonas.
This vast territory (393,000 km2) is located in the interfluvial region of the Madeira and Purus rivers and is characterized by upland tropical rainforests (terra firme), seasonally and permanently flooded forests (várzea and igapó), as well as savanna areas that transition to the Cerrado biome.
The Southern Amazonas – Northern Rondônia Mosaic includes numerous protected areas of great importance for the conservation of Amazonian socio-biodiversity and regional development, including: the Jatuarana, Humaitá, and Jamaria national forests (FLONAs), the Campos Amazônicos and Mapinguari national parks (PARNAs), the Médio-Purus, Ituxi, and Rio Ouro Preto extractive reserves (RESEXs), and finally, the Jiahui, Tenharim Marmelos, Nove de Janeiro, Kaxarari and Uru-eu-wau-wau indigenous territories (TIs).
The area is home to immense socio-cultural diversity, represented through its more than 963,000 inhabitants that include indigenous groups as well as social groups that migrated from other parts of Brazil. These groups include riverine, agro-extractive, quilombola, and agrarian reform communities, as well as ranchers, farmers, and residents of urban areas and the urban periphery.
Another prominent characteristic of the mosaic is its south-west portion borders: the Bolivian states of Pando and Beni, sharing the Madeira River Basin, thus making it a strategic area for bi-national development projects and, critical relations between Brazil and Bolivia. Various challenges and threats affect this complex and dynamic territory and, consequently, its residents: the uncontrolled advance of the agricultural frontier, illegal logging and deforestation, forest fires, illegal mining, land tenure insecurity and land grabbing, ineffectiveness of government agencies, and the construction of major infrastructure works (e.g. BR-319, BR-230 and BR-364, and the Santo Antônio and Jirau hydroelectric dams).
Ongoing Work
Through workshops, questionnaires and interviews, the GIA team has worked with partner organizations to compile knowledge and information that can support learning and reflection about the dynamics of governance and infrastructure in the Southern Amazonas – Northern Rondônia focal mosaic.
Timeline
Historical timelines are a way to reflect on the drivers of system change and decision-making processes, helping us to identify on when major policy shifts occurred and what were related critical enabling and limiting factors. We present the Southern Amazonas – Northern Rondônia regional timeline here, indicating the scale at which key events occurred, the roles of different actors in catalyzing system change, what was the aspects emphasized by the participant group, apparent gaps in the workshop reflections, lessons for, and potential avenues for further work. The cross-regional synthesis of timelines may be found here.
Participatory Mapping
The Southern Amazonas/Northern Rondônia Community of Practice and Learning brings together a range of actors who work together in multiple ways to address shared challenges. Understanding how collaboration occurs and how different organizations can work together to maximize their collective impact are important areas for analysis and reflection.
In addition, many other stakeholders such as financing, construction, political and economic actors influence governance, infrastructure development, and conservation and development outcomes. It is important to understand who these actors are, their interests, sources of power, and collectively figure out opportunities to influence them.
Learn more about case studies and other analyses related to the Southern Amazonas/Northern Rondônia CoP-L network and other infrastructure governance stakeholders here. For a more synthetic perspective on stakeholder analysis here (Forthcoming) , and for organizational analysis here (Forthcoming).
Stakeholder and Organizational Analysis
The Southern Amazonas/Northern Rondônia Community of Practice and Learning brings together a range of actors who work together in multiple ways to address shared challenges. Understanding how collaboration occurs and how different organizations can work together to maximize their collective impact are important areas for analysis and reflection.
In addition, many other stakeholders such as financing, construction, political and economic actors influence governance, infrastructure development, and conservation and development outcomes. It is important to understand who these actors are, their interests, sources of power, and opportunities to influence them.
Learn more about case studies and other analyses related to the Southern Amazonas/Northern Rondônia CoP-L network and other infrastructure governance stakeholders here. For a more synthetic perspective on stakeholder analysis here (Forthcoming, and for organizational analysis here (Forthcoming).
“Effectiveness of conservation strategies for infrastructure governance” Dr. Jazmin Gonzales Tovar
Our preliminary assessment of conservation strategies identified several promising cases that offer opportunities for analysis and learning. By comparatively analyzing fours specific cases—one in each of the four GIA countries (Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru)—this research aims to assess the effectiveness of strategies aimed to promote infrastructure governance. The study takes a close look at contextual/exogenous factors (e.g. politics and governance), power dynamics, synergies among diverse types of strategies, political mobilization, and coalitions/collaborations. It will deeply explore how certain social-environmentally oriented actors faced specific infrastructure projects in a given Amazonian region; which strategies they utilized to advance their desired goals, how they exerted power to influence decision-making, how they built coalitions and interacted with actors that had different goals or priorities, what were the results, and why (e.g. what was the effect of contextual factors and power relations).
The chosen cases in Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil constitute successful stories of indigenous groups who managed to stop or pause infrastructure projects that would have impacted their territories and infringed their rights. For those three cases, this research aims to produce scientific evidence and communication materials that help these indigenous groups in their lucha.
In Brazil, the study will center on the case of the Munduruku peoples, who made strategic alliances and organized in campaigns and protests (Ipereğ’ayũ movement) until successfully making the government cancel the license for the São Luis do Tapajós dam (the centerpiece of the Tapajós Hydroelectric Complex). For this part of the research, Jazmin is working with Dr. Maira Irigaray, who did deep research on this specific case for several years. Maira will be the nexus with key indigenous leaders and non-governmental organizations that were involved in this case. She will also participate in the analysis and production of documents and materials.
Case Study
Upcoming
Webinar
GIA had a series of virtual meetings with each GIA mosaic-level Community of Practice and Learning to present results from GIA’s first year of activities and discuss next steps for 2020. Please access Southern Amazonas – Northern Rondônia CoP-L meeting below.
Planned Activities / Agenda
Learn more about events, activities and additional studies being carried out in the Southern Amazonia-Northern Rondônia here (Forthcoming).
Additional Students Research
Felipe Veluk Gutierrez Title: Social Innovation, Collective Action and Amazonian-nut Value Chain Development as strategies for Biocultural Conservation in the Amazon, Brazil
Felipe’s participatory-action research looks at how collective actions and social innovation can catalyze Amazonian-nut (Bertholletia excelsa) value chain development for biocultural conservation in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia, Brazil. The research explores social innovation and collective actions related to production, marketing and mobilization, among forest-based grassroots organizations, NGOs and partners, as catalyst forces towards more empowered, sustainable and resilient communities and territory.
Sinomar Fereira da Fonseca Title: Changing Strategies for Environmental Governance in the Brazilian Amazon: Free Prior Informed Consent for Indigenous Peoples and their Allies
Sinomar Fonseca is focusing his dissertation on how indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon defend their lands and culture in the presence of advancing infrastructure projects, including the BR-319 highway. His focus is on how indigenous people and their allies have mobilized around the Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) as a key tool for improved governance. He will assess the environmental governance process involving key allies like NGOs, National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs (FUNAI), and the Federal Prosecution Ministry (MPF) and understand their involvement in the indigenous people’s mobilization, use of FPIC rights, and the BR-319 highway consultation process.
Carol Jordão is carrying out doctoral research related to organizational strategies and networking to address deforestation. She is looking at NGO strategies and cultures in the Brazilian Amazon, with a focus on networks and alliances, learning and adaptation, and relationships with funding agencies; her research includes a case study of the RECAM network.
List of Products
Spatiotemporal analysis of the Southern Amazonas/Northern Rondônia Mosaic: Socio-economics, infrastructure, land cover, and land-use change, click here
Coordinators
Hover at imagem for information and contact coordinators
Felipe Gutierrez
University of Florida | felipe.gutierrez@ufl.edu
Ney Maciel
Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil - IIEB | ney@iieb.org.br
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